Rope & Cable Spooling

Wire & Fibre Rope Spooling

We provide rope spooling on both hired and purchased equipment It is important to ensure that before a load is applied to a rope it is installed with sufficient back tension to prevent it from getting crushed and dividing through the lower layers on the drum. The back tensioning machine ensures spooling is correct every time.

See how last year we invested heavily into our synthetic rope capabilities

What is Rope Spooling?

Rope Spooling, also called cable spooling, is the winding of synthetic or wire rope/cable onto the drum of a winch under back tension. This is done with a specialist cable spooling device. The spooling of rope ensures ease of storage and the safe and efficient use of the rope later.

Our Cable Spooling Facility

We have dedicated cable and umbilical spooling facilities to spool rope, either wire or synthetic.

Thanks to our 250t test bed, we spool rope onto even the largest winches in our hire fleet. Smaller capacity winches have rope spooled on in one of our workshops. In specialist cases we can wind the rope from a purpose designed brake reeler.

Importance of Rope Spooling

When adding layers of rope/cable to a drum make sure it is correctly spooled. By correctly spooling the wire or synthetic rope we prevent snagging and ensure the lower layers of cable aren’t crushed on the drum. This means to less wear on the winch wire, helping it last longer.

Rope Spooling & Back Tension

Wire rope should be tensioned at a minimum of 10% of the Working Load Limit or 1-2% of the ropes breaking strength, though you need to consider the design of the cable and safety coefficient. Synthetic rope can be spooled using hand tension as unlike wire rope it is isn’t prone to kinking. As a rule, the smaller the drum, the more tension needed.

Purchase Spooled Rope

Purchase steel and synthetic rope at varying thicknesses and at the length of your choice spooled and delivered alongside your winch, cable drum trailer or by itself.

After testing and before dispatch, we spool the rope directly onto the winch on our test bed. Winches are shipped ready-spooled and are ready to be used immediately on delivery.

Learn more about our wire & synthetic rope services

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